The present invention relates to a clamp, and more particularly to a lever operated clamp. The clamp has particular application to the holding rod for a musical instrument drum, although it is not limited to that application.
A set of musical instrument drums includes individual drums which are each supported by a respective rod on a drum holder. For example, the tom-tom in a drum set has a holder rod that is attached to the exterior of the body of the drum by a clamp.
Known clamps include a movable and a stationary jaw. The movable jaw is tightened against the stationary jaw, to clamp the rod between them, by means of a bolt and/or nut, and the like. The rod may be inserted into an eye-bolt, and the eye-bolt is pulled for both tightening and fixing the rod.
In the case of a drum set with a number of drums assembled in one location and near one another, it is preferable that tightening and loosening of a clamp for holding a drum to a respective holding rod be carried out simply, e.g. in a one touch fashion, if possible. This is easier with the holder rod for a musical instrument because the amount of tightening and loosening of the clamp for fixing or separating the instrument from the rod is slight.
Also, where the holder rod is clamped by movement of a locking lever, both for improved appearance and for user convenience so that the user can tell by rapid observation whether the holder rod is fully clamped, it is desirable that the orientations of the locking levers for all the clamps for all the drums in the set respectively correspond both for the unclamped and the clamped conditions, e.g. the levers extend laterally outward for the unclamped and downward for the clamped conditions. However, as not all drum holder rods are of precisely the same thickness or cross-section, and as not all clamps are identical, even if the clamps for all the drum holders are substantially uniform, nonetheless if clamping is accomplished by twisting of the locking lever on a screw threaded shaft, it is likely that the various levers will be at somewhat different orientations after they have been tightened to securely clamp the holding rod, and when they are loosened.